March 7, 2006
Redwood City, CA - With top Cardinal sailor, Brian Haines out with a back injury, the Cardinal coaching squad had to make a call to fill the 3rd boat on the Stanford team race squad. Haines had been the leader of the three-boat team that also includes Emery Wager and Taylor Grimes along with Eddie Conrad and Anna Vu. "We have a lot of team race talent," commented assistant coach John Pearce, "but it came down to who sailed the best in practice last week."
Filling the third boat this weekend was Caroline Young and crew Becca Levin.
Team racing is a format that pits 3 boats from one team against 3 boats from another team. The teams must use rules, stragegy and boathandling to finish ahead of the other team's boats. The annual event was held at the Morrison Boathouse Saturday and Sunday. With the winter storm approaching, the conditions on the water were windy on Saturday (8-10 knots) and blustery on Sunday (12-24 knots). Levin bowed out for heavy crew Evan Brown in Sunday's windy conditions. Vu also swapped out for heavy crew Joanna Madsen on Sunday.
The Cardinal squad hit the ground running, After the first round-robin, they were 5-2 only losing to #2 USC and #8 U South Florida. In the second round robin, the Stanford Team beat U South Florida, but still fell to USC. Going into the final six championship round-robin, the Stanford team was in first overall with 11 wins and 3 losses, ahead of #4 St. Mary's of Maryland.
In the finals, Stanford suffered losses to four of the other five teams (#10 UC Irvine, #7 U Hawaii, U Southern California, U South Florida), however, their cushion of wins from the first round-robin helped them finish 2nd overall, behind St. Mary's of Maryland.
The McIntyre Team Race is named for Jeremy McIntyre '94, Stanford Sailing alum who was killed in an avalanche while skiing in '99. On-water umpires calling the action were; Bryan McDonald, Kirk Brown, Charlie Arms, Jeff Condon '00, Andrew Warner, Dave Kenny '03, Tom Roberts, John Super, Peter McCool, Rolf Kaiser '95 and John Mulcahy. Thanks to Stanford Crew for helping us supply enough motor boats for the umpires! Races were held in two fleets of FJ's and one of 420's.
FINAL RESULTS
1. St Mary's of Maryland 14-5
2. Stanford 12-7
3. U South Florida 11-8
4. UC Irvine 11-8 (lost 2x to USF)
5. U Hawaii 9-10
6. U Southern California (10-9) 8-11 *failed to sign RP
7. U Washington 4-10
8. UC Santa Barbara 0-14
See photos at /ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30600&ATCLID=208437573
Stanford is off to two events back east this weekend. The Women will be competing at the Navy Spring Women's Intersectional whle the team racers will be at the St. Mary's Team Race in Maryland. With Haines still on injured reserve, it is unclear who will be sailing which event this weekend.